The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Sue Horner is a freelance writer in Oakville, Ontario, who blogs about writing, communications and running an independent business in The Red Jacket Diaries blog.

20 things I’ve learned in 20 years

By Sue Horner | Published: December 7, 2011

It’s been a busy year, and somehow I just realized that the milestone of 20 years as an independent business communicator and freelance writer passed months ago. To echo a post my friend and fellow indie Donna Papacosta ran about her 26 years in business, here are 20 things I’ve learned in those 20 years: [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged | 5 Comments

Punctuation challenge results are in

By Sue Horner | Published: December 5, 2011

No doubt you’ve been breathlessly awaiting the results of the contest that marked the 2011 National Punctuation Day (Sept. 24) — the day for drawing attention to America’s lapsed grammar skills. Well, wait no longer! NPD founder Jeff Rubin has announced the select few among the 220 entrants who attempted to meet the challenge of [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Curating content: It’s not just about dinosaur bones!

By Sue Horner | Published: November 22, 2011

The internet brings us more information than we’ve ever had, but that’s not the real issue. As Donna Papacosta told the IABC/Toronto Westend group on Nov. 15 — quoting author and speaker Clay Shirky – “It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.” “People used to rely on the morning newspaper and the nightly news, and [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Friday word nerd fun

By Sue Horner | Published: November 18, 2011

Hey, it’s Friday. Time for some silly fun with words! Play Hangman with Oxford English Dictionary. No surprise, expect tricky words. Play Oxford Fortune Cookie on Twitter by tweeting “I want to play OxfordFortuneCookie with @OUPAcademic” and a number between 1 and 400. The reply will be a quote/your fortune. Build or test your vocabulary [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Measuring social analytics takes more than intuition

By Sue Horner | Published: November 8, 2011

If you aren’t measuring social analytics, you’re just operating on intuition. That’s what Adele McAlear told the group attending the Nov. 2 session of IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators. Adele is Director of Operations for Measurement & Analytics at Edelman Digital’s Montreal office, heading up a team that provides social insights and measurement to help guide [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Let’s be discreet about using discrete

By Sue Horner | Published: November 2, 2011

Don’t you find that it’s rare to see the word “discrete” used correctly? For some reason, that’s one of the most frequent homonyms (also called homophones) I keep running into lately –  referring to one word mistaken for another that sounds the same. When I first saw the newspaper heading shown here, I thought the [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged | 5 Comments

#NoMoreBullies

By Sue Horner | Published: October 27, 2011

Several different sources have pointed me to comedian Rick Mercer‘s powerful rant this week about bullying, which was inspired by the recent suicide of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley. As a mother, I can only begin to imagine the heartbreak Jamie’s family is going through. And while I can’t understand the depth of despair that would make [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pick up the phone!

By Sue Horner | Published: October 26, 2011

When was the last time you actually called someone rather than send an email or a text message? I was out with a friend recently and we got to talking about how people seldom pick up the phone and call each other any more. Even when it would be easier and faster to actually talk [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged | 8 Comments

3 places to network in November

By Sue Horner | Published: October 18, 2011

Toronto-area colleagues, you might be interested in these upcoming events (I’ll be there!): 1. IABC/Toronto: Professional Independent Communicators (PIC) Demystifying communications measurement Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 6 to 9 p.m. Metro Hall, Room 310, 55 John Street, Toronto Demonstrate your worth to your clients or your boss by measuring your efforts! Speaker Adele McAlear, Director [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Social media can be magic

By Sue Horner | Published: October 14, 2011

Writer Susan Crossman of Crossman Communications went from not having to work hard to needing to drive serious business to her door. With focus, training and active participation in social media, she can now be choosy about clients. She spends about an hour each morning tending to Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, a process she calls [...]

Posted in The Red Jacket Diaries blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment